Cut-Over Pine Lands in the South. 
35 
be again sown in oats. Ferris, at the McNeill station, Miss., re- 
ports the best yields of oats by using this method, and obtained 
2 tons of lespedeza hay following the oats. 1 No other hay crop in 
that section is more valuable as a feed. It can be grown with less 
trouble and expense than any other hay crop and at the same time it 
improves the land for future crops. (This subject is discussed in 
Farmers' Bulletin 441.) 
The cowpea is the most common cultivated crop grown for hay 
in the Piney Woods section. This crop commonly follows oats and 
is sown broadcast for hay, as it smothers weeds and crab grass. (De- 
tailed information concerning cowpeas is contained in Farmers' 
Bulletins 318, 1125, and 1153.) 
The soy bean is an annual legume similar to the cowpea but is not 
so extensively used. It makes a heavier growth of seed than the cow- 
pea, but when sown broadcast cowpeas make a heavier yield, as well 
as smothering the weeds. (Soy beans are discussed in detail in 
Farmers' Bulletins 931, 973, and 1125.) 
Peanut hay is rapidly coming into use in some sections of the 
Piney Woods, especially in Alabama and Georgia, and is now put 
on the market as a commercial hay. Peanuts are grown as a forage 
crop after the removal of oats or rye and the tops mowed for hay 
the same as cowpeas or other legumes, leaving the nuts in the ground 
to be harvested by hogs. The yield of hay is between 1 and 2 tons 
an acre. Peanut hay is coarse but of good quality, is relished by 
cattle, and has a feeding value equal to clover hay. (Methods of 
growing and handling the crop are fully discussed in Farmers' 
Bulletins 431 and 1125.) 
Table 4 gives the analyses of lespedeza, cowpea, and peanut-vine 
hay as compared with alfalfa hay. 
Table 4. — Analyses of three southern legume hays compared with alfalfa hay. 1 
Number 
of 
analyses. 
Constituents. 
Kind of hay. 
Water. 
Ash. 
Crude 
protein. 
Carbohydrates. 
Crude 
fiber. 
Nitrogen 
free 
extract. 
Fat. 
Alfalfa 
250 
14 
35 
7 
Per cent. 
8.6 
11.8 
14.8 
21.5 
Per cent. 
8.6 
5.8 
7.3 
8.7 
Per cent. 
14.9 
12.1 
16.5 
9.1 
Per cent. 
28.3 
25.9 
20.4 
20.2 
Per cent. 
37.3 
41.6 
37.3 
36.8 
Per cent. 
2.3 
Lespedeza 
2.8 
Cowpea 
3.7 
Peanut yine 
3.7 
1 Analyses from Henry and Morrison. 
Table 4 shows lespedeza hay to be practically equal to alfalfa hay. 
It is slightly lower in crude-protein content, but is also lower in 
Mississippi Bulletin 180. 
